Arrests and a Media Blackout in San Francisco Occupy Raid

Just after 1 a.m. on Wednesday, San Francisco police stormed a downtown Occupy Wall Street encampment, using tactics that have begun to sound commonplace after New York police used them on occupiers in Zuccotti Park. The early morning raid came as a surprise and happened fast, the Associated Press reports, via the San Francisco Chronicle: "Officer Albie Esparza says more than 100 officers swept into the encampment at Justin Herman Plaza shortly after 1 a.m. Wednesday, gave campers a few minutes warning to pack up and leave, then swept in." They arrested 70 people in all, according to a later Chronicle staff report, including 30 who refused to leave Justin Herman Plaza and another 40 who blocked Market Street in protest. In the end, police cleared out the camp and were pressure-washing Justin Herman Plaza before dawn. But most of the reports come second hand, as the San Jose Mercury News noted another similarity to New York's operation: "Access for reporters and photographers to the camp itself has been blocked." The Mercury News reported later that "Police Chief Greg Suhr said the decision to move in this morning was made after a breakdown in talks over the camp moving to another location the city had chosen and after confrontations last week between police and protesters."